Toy Box > Reviews (6)

What would you pay for an hour's quiet play by your 3 year old? I took a straw poll among my friends and found out that that average for the hour would be five to six pounds!

This magazine has been 99p for a while now, and can capture my three-year old's attention for anything up to an hour, followed by an hour of mummy-guided puzzles. Very cheap, and can save you from shoving your little darling into the rubbish bin!

It's made by BBCmagazines, which means that all the anklebiter's favourite characters from CBBC are here, and the puzzles sometimes involve the child 'helping' the Teletubbies, for example, to find things. This is a stroke of genius, as that captures my son's attention right away, in a fashion that made-up mummy puzzles can't ! *8)

The June 2001 issue, for example, is packed with characters from BBC kiddie programmes. First we have the Tweenies, and 'Do as Doodles says,' which is billed as 'a great game to play with your friends.' Friends being at a minimum today, that involved Mummy doing various things with pointing and jogging on the spot. See, a great magazine for the kiddies *and* an aerobic workout for mummy- all for only 99p *8)

At the bottom of every activity there is an explanation for the adult taking part, telling them exactly which part of the National Curriculum is being exercised by the child. < My child is preparing for school and he doesn't know it- mwah-ha-haaaaa ;) >

In this particular issue we also have counting with the Teletubbies, word recognition with Bob the Builder and a short Board game-type activity with Polka Dot Shorts. The Fireman Sam activity was a maze where you had to find out who found a cat- awwww. Apparently, if they followed the lines closely with a pencil they get good practice for handwriting too!

They think it's fun- but it's educational! Hahahaha

Between the puzzles there are various stories involving BBC characters. In this issue that involved Noddy, William's Wish Wellingtons, El Nombre and Playdays.

This magazine is aimed at children from 3 to 5 years and reception class, which in itself seems like a very broad range. However, as they get older, and therefore more proficient, they will be able to take over more tasks from Mummy and actually aim to read the stories.

All in all, an excellent read and very interesting- and that's just me *8)
I couldn't help but smile, though, as on the bottom of nearly every page there is a plug for other BBC magazines- good job my little terror can't read yet! I think I'll stop him reading it when he can recognise those particular words! *8)